Gents,
I was in the act of polishing my shoes (they are a few years old, but have never actually been shined before, this was my 1st attempt at shining) when my dad came by and asked me what I was doing. He noticed the apparent lack of shine or progress being made and decided to help me out. A few things he pointed out:
1) He never used a brush to apply polish, most rags he found were too "rough" and prevented polish from being applied. He recommended diapers.
2) On newer shoes, the leather grain could be seen and needed to be "filled" in beore you could see a respectable shine. He would throw some polish onto the shoe and use a glass bottle (spice bottle) to force the wax poish into the shoe.
3) Repeat the polish application/bottle cycle a few times and let the shoes sit for the polish to harden up. (overnight in a cool place)
4) Use a nylon (tightly stretched) to lightly buff the layer of wax that's been built up and hardened to get the shine out.
5) He lit the can of wax to soften it, (I had been trying to apply it straight) and claimed he used to add some sort of liquid, he thought it was silicone to the polish (this was over 53 years ago).
Some questions:
1) What sort of cloth would anyone recommend using? Any thoughts on the diaper?
2) Anyone use a glass bottle or object to work in the polish?
3) Anything special for new shoes besides elbow grease?
I'd like to hear thoughts on these as I did some research before shining and hadn't heard any of these methods. Was my dad messing with me?
- Just J
I was in the act of polishing my shoes (they are a few years old, but have never actually been shined before, this was my 1st attempt at shining) when my dad came by and asked me what I was doing. He noticed the apparent lack of shine or progress being made and decided to help me out. A few things he pointed out:
1) He never used a brush to apply polish, most rags he found were too "rough" and prevented polish from being applied. He recommended diapers.
2) On newer shoes, the leather grain could be seen and needed to be "filled" in beore you could see a respectable shine. He would throw some polish onto the shoe and use a glass bottle (spice bottle) to force the wax poish into the shoe.
3) Repeat the polish application/bottle cycle a few times and let the shoes sit for the polish to harden up. (overnight in a cool place)
4) Use a nylon (tightly stretched) to lightly buff the layer of wax that's been built up and hardened to get the shine out.
5) He lit the can of wax to soften it, (I had been trying to apply it straight) and claimed he used to add some sort of liquid, he thought it was silicone to the polish (this was over 53 years ago).
Some questions:
1) What sort of cloth would anyone recommend using? Any thoughts on the diaper?
2) Anyone use a glass bottle or object to work in the polish?
3) Anything special for new shoes besides elbow grease?
I'd like to hear thoughts on these as I did some research before shining and hadn't heard any of these methods. Was my dad messing with me?
- Just J